Let us discuss one familiar situation for a start. You are queuing after a long day at work. Your shopping basket has all that is needed for a quick but tasty dinner at home. If it is the beginning of the weekend so there is probably a bottle of red wine or a six pack of your favorite beer. All you need to do is get to the cash register, pay for the goods and be on your way home. However, while you are waiting you see a candy bar on sale and you cannot resist buying one. Naturally, now you have to buy gums as well. Finally, there is the latest edition of a magazine on impulse buying, and you get that too, ending up with at least three items you certainly did not plan on buying. What just happened here? A perfect example of a successful point of sale marketing.
Basics
Point of sale marketing (POS) is basically a way of advertising products by placing them in the vicinity of a checkout spot. In case of physical stores POS are present near the cash registers and along the queue line to be prominent and within hands reach for the customers waiting to pay for their goods. On the other hand, in case of internet shops the most usual place to find it is on or near the last page of the checkout process.
Usual Places where POS is Employed
Grocery stores would be the most obvious place. Various products are placed between each of the cash registers, as well as along every queue line. These products are usually magazines, gums and batteries. Also, it is customary to find small refrigerators that contain soda or ice cream right next to the cash register. Next in the line are gas stations who usually add beef jerky and energizers along with the POS products from grocery stores. Fast food restaurants commonly display gift cards and desserts while various retail stores display their affordable items from different categories.
Effectiveness of POS
POS merchandise are low-ticket products without excuse. They appeal to all those customers who are not particularly loyal to any special brand, which covers most of the population. Next, the POS goods are always placed at eye level since it was proven to boost sales. Also, even thou POS marketing strongly bases its success on impulse buy, products displayed are very often on permanent discounts, which makes them appealing to all price sensitive customers as well. Finally, it is hard to resist a tasty candy bar on your way home from a long day at work or school, or a cold drink on those steaming summer days.
The Most Frequent POS Marketing Method
The most frequent POS marketing method is without a doubt a merchandise display. Individual products are placed on separate displays, such as Genesis pop displays, which makes them more appealing and attractive compared to being displayed with other products of the same category. The display family has several auxiliary branches, such as shelf edging, posters, banners and dummy packs, all on the same mission of persuading the customers to buy the product. However, does it really work?
The future of POS
Traditional POS methods have been around for centuries and although they are more than frequently used there are new approaches establishing themselves on the POS marketing scene as we speak. This is quite natural since things are constantly changing and improving in our technologically advancing world. Some of the advancements seemed impossible just a decade ago and yet, they are in common use nowadays. Customer’s habits and expectations change, slowly or quickly, depending on age and interests. However, these changes are imminent. The manufacturers and especially marketing researchers are perfectly aware that they need to adapt to new customer’s demands if they wish to stay on the market, let alone become more prominent.
Point of sale marketing is obviously a proven way of enhancing the sale that bases itself on knowing the nature of the customers. The fact that it has been around for centuries proves the level of adaptability it has and it is safe to say that it has a safe future as an important part of marketing in general.